Ever since I had the opportunity to have lunch at the team luncheon with him his rookie year, I've been pretty impressed with Eric Winston. Sometimes you meet with players, and you don't see much going on behind the eyes. (no, I won't name names). Winston obviously has some snap.

HT.com just posted an interview with him, and it certainly is yet another thing to get you hyped for the upcoming season.

He says more than the awesome part. He talks about how Gibbs is generous with his information, and wants the linemen to understand what they are doing, not just act like robots (speculative hmmmm, maybe a very veiled reference to Sherman??? It took an injury to get Winston on the field his rookie year--it's pretty clear that Winston is a bit of a non-comformist--not a bad teammate but he just has his own mind about things.). Talks about the playoff expectations, some things about his teammates that played well coming off of the practice squad.

It's just nice hearing him talk about these things. Gives you a sense of him.

"you can't just winning the games at home and then going on the road and not playing well. ...we gotta find a way to get over that hump... ...gotta hold court at home and play .500 on the road; maybe better."

Personal Goals:

Quote:

"I want to see us have a 1500 yd rusher... ...if its not one guy I want to see us get 2000 yds as a team..."

I like it!
Thanks T.C., I was about to post this myself.

__________________
Loyalty to any one sports team is pretty hard to justify. ...the players are always changing, the team can move to another city, you're actually rooting for the clothes when you get right down to it.

I met Eric Winston at All Access his rookie year and was very impressed with how friendly he was with the fans. He ask me about my granddaughter's jersey, she had on a pink TEXAN one, said he wanted to get one for his girlfriend. He just smiled and chatted with her, she was nine at the time, and she still remembers him. Later, we were walking down the underground corridor and passed him. He stopped and chatted with us for a couple of minutes. I was blown away right then by his size!! That dude is HUGE!!! I liked his attitude then, and I like it now. He's becoming one of my fav TEXAN players.

Great interview. I like Winston a lot and he's quickly become one of my favorites. I find it hard limiting my favorite Texans to only a few, because I love the job Smith and Kubiak have done in bringing in really down to earth players.

The thing I like about Winston is his passion. He's a really smart guy, plays with a lot of passion and seems to be one of those guys Gibbs likes (he's fierce). He plays with a kind of aggressive tenacity. I think he's going to be a really great RT in this league.

Also, this guy is HUGE. He makes the other linemen (6'4, 6'5 kind of guys) look like middle schoolers!

I like his attitude, and hopefully that is indicative of the team's mindset right now. This o-line knows it is an improved product, but the national perception still lingers about being a sinkhole for sacks. The only way that they will shed that reputation will be for our offense to put up some respectable numbers and win some games. 2,000 yards rushing would be a great place to start.

__________________"Football is only a diversion." ~ Houston Texans, Inc.

good post TC. seems like only yesterday we're squabbling about not taking Winston in the 2nd rd. back in 06 (DeMeco Ryans, yeah that turned out rather well) then he was still there @ in the 3rd. rest as they say is history. Miami Hurricane players rule now we have Andre Johnson, Eric Winston & Chris Meyers.

“I don’t know how he does it, but it's crazy, his energy is innate,” Pitts said. “He doesn’t drink a whole bunch of coffee and he’s not Red Bulling it, drinking all kinds of things to get him going. He just wakes up and he is like a firecracker, but it's fun to me. I enjoy his energy. He’s out there always having fun, and all he wants is for us to get better.” http://www.houstontexans.com/news/St...?story_id=4439

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I dunno, but looks like Gibbs is only adding to his legend with his time here
in H-Town. Great coach, colorful, fascinatng character.

I know a lot of players do this, but today after practice Eric Winston walked the gauntlet of fans and signed what appeared to be everyones stuff. He was out there a long time and was very nice to the little kids.

He did not have to do that, he was tired and hot, and most likely would have like to have ridden the cart over to the showers.

BTW Dunta was coming down as I was leaving do much the same thing as Eric.

One would have to be impressed as so many players went right up the steps after practice and Winston stayed behind, just to reiterate what painkiller stated.
Looked like he signed everything he was asked to, smiled and spoke to folks.
Nice guy from what I saw.
By the SuperD, Sage did the same thing the next day.

I know a lot of players do this, but today after practice Eric Winston walked the gauntlet of fans and signed what appeared to be everyones stuff. He was out there a long time and was very nice to the little kids.

He did not have to do that, he was tired and hot, and most likely would have like to have ridden the cart over to the showers.

BTW Dunta was coming down as I was leaving do much the same thing as Eric.

Schaub was there for a time, he was grabbed by some team official and pulled through after about 5 to 10 minutes. He did not get to spend as much time as Winston did.

BTW Ray Rhodes signed a couple of things before the crowd had grown and seemed very pleasant to the autograph seekers.

Also Kris Brown made a quick dash and signed some stuff early.

I want to give credit where it is due. BTW the DL was under the tent signing for a long time. So the team is making a huge effort to be fan friendly and I know the kids will remember the player when he takes the time to talk to them.